Web of Insanity

Marko looked at the note in his hand, then at the warehouse before him. Yep, this was 1038 Spooner Street. Grumbling, he walked towards the door to the warehouse, where a pair of younger boys discussed something.

“…and that’s why I think we should just get outta here, Bossman!” One of them said, a plexiglass dome over his head.

“I’ve told you fifteen times now! He offered us aid in ending Spider-Man! He broke us out of Oscorp! He’s the only other guy I trust right now besides you, Mysterio!” The other shouted, his hands crackling with electricity.

“He made us do most of the goddamned work!”

Marko couldn’t help but watch the two bicker about their mysterious benefactor, until someone else dropped in.

“So this is who we’re pals with? Some jerk with a fishbowl helmet?!”

Turning towards the voice, “Mysterio” quickly noted the gauntlets on his hands, bringing the air around them to a chill.

“Hey, I saw you on the news recently! Blizzard, was it?”

“Good to see somebody knows us!” Another voice said, soon revealed to be a man in a high tech wingsuit.

“The Vulture, I presume?”

With that, the five of them prattled off their introductions and why they had arrived.

“It seems fate has brought us all together, under the aid of our mysterious benefactor.” The unmasked boy, now clarified as Electro, stated. “Now then, shall we enter?”

And so they did, finding a warehouse filled with scientific equipment. Tubes bubbled with unknown substances, and machinery worked all around them.

“So, you all have arrived. Good.” A familiar text-to-speech voice filled the room, as a human-sized robot emerged before everyone. Eight tendrils hovered around the mechanoid’s frame, a tri-spiked claw at each one’s end.

“To clarify my name to you all at last…I am Doctor Otto Octavius, but you may call me Doctor Octopus. Or Doc Ock, depending on how lazy you are.”

"Well, DOCTOR." Flint steps forward. "What's up with you and your freaky words? And more importantly, what specifically do you want the spider dead for?" 

“Not dead. Captured. What he stands for, and his memories, will die. I’ll be truthful, this robotic form of mine is falling apart, too much to repair. However, I plan to overtake his consciousness. Overwrite his brainwaves with my own, erasing his mind from existence. I need your help to capture him, and I will pay all of you handsomely for it.”

"That's all very well and stuff, doc, but I ain't buying nothing till you can prove it. You said you want to take over the spider's body, for what? Why not just end it, seems like no way for you to live like that, looking like a freak, like the rest of us."

“I have the technology to do this. As well, I have a few grudges to deal with…anyone familiar with one Norman Osborn?”

Just the mention of Osborn’s name made Electro spark up in rage.

“THAT ASSHOLE EXPERIMENTED ON ME! HE CLAIMED IT WAS TO ‘help cure me’ BUT ALL HE DID WAS CAUSE ENDLESS AGONY!”

“Osborn is why I’m like this. I had to steal this robotic form to survive, after he’d cut my funding.”

There's a pause, and a sudden rattling sound from the doctor. 

"Norman Osborn is a curse, a plague to this city, and the world. And we will be the cure that destroys him." 

“Oh right, that recording from the vault! The nerve disease.” Blizzard said.

“I had to implant my mind into this accursed machine just to live. If he hadn’t cut my funding, that disease would be cured, and I’d be walking once more. Not with mechanical footsteps, but in the soles of my own body. His legacy is built on lies and greed, nothing but death lies on his road. ”

With that, one of the robotic tentacles extended towards a massive lever of some kind, pulling it down. In an instant, the entire area is lit up, tables of strange technology, boxes and wires and wheels and the like scattered around. 

"You are all weak. Lost, but you are all men of motivations, goals. Not only will I make sure you get the money you want, I'll make sure you're a step closer to the goals you wish to achieve." 

Everyone just looked at Ock and his oddly fluid movements.

“Tech enhancements, robotic minions, whatever it is…I can handle it. All I ask in return is to capture the spider…and bring him here. After that…”

He clenches one of his claws, his electronic eyes turning a deep crimson.

“We shall storm Oscorp, and end the life of Norman Osborn.”

Electro and Mysterio couldn’t help but cheer. The experiments he’d done, the tech he’d shamelessly stolen…all would be undone with his death.

Rob and Tyler do the same. This was just a bigger score for them. 

Flint just frowns. This may have been more than he signed up for. Maybe too much. 

“It seems fate has set the stage for our next performance! The defeat of Spider-Man and the death of Osborn in one fell swoop is all I’ve wanted for too long! Otto…I’m in.” Electro grinned sadistically, sparks flying from his fingertips.

“I’m in too. He stole my holograms, I’ll take something from him. The law of equivalent exchange doesn’t stop for the rich, after all.” Mysterio responded.

“If Toomes thinks ya can do it, we’re in.” Blizzard and The Vulture coldly stated.

“...I dunno…”

“Marko. With this, we’ll have power. Power we can use to get back at the other culprits of your accident…Hammerhead’s gang. Think of that and your family. Think of all the people you'd save with your power. ” Ock responded. "Men like us have a responsibility, Marko." 

Marko had to admit, he’d been stuck. If Hammerhead knew he was still living, he’d come back for him. And if he refused…he’d probably go after his family.

“Fine, I’m in. What’s the plan?”

“Glad you asked. And since we're all in, I think it's time I show you what we have in store for Osborn and the spider.”

He laughed in that same cold, text-to-speech way.

Hero slowly lowered himself from the ceiling. When his fingers could reach the keyboard, he turned on the computer. 

It had taken some time, effort, and a lot of unconscious security, but Hero finally managed to get into Norman Osborn's office. 

The recent breakouts of his superpowered baddies were no joke. And they couldn't be a coincidence either. 

“Alright, Osborn. Let’s find out what’s got you after me.”

A click nearly made Hero jump. Very slowly, he puts his hands up. 

"...didn't take the greedy CEO to be a gun carrier." 

"I'm not usually, but when I've got people breaking out and destroying my properties? I've got cause for concern, and a license." 

“That’s what I’m here about. No jokes, no nothing. Just here to ask about why all those guys I beat the snot out of suddenly popped back up raring for my head.”

Norman sneers. "It's a long story, but it mainly revolves around keeping my company's interest and profits up, and people turning their backs on me, like that sniveling Adrian, crawling back to Otto like a dog on its last legs." 

“...Otto?”

“Hmph. Why should I tell you anything, when you could easily be working for him as well?”

"Look, let's make a deal, okay?" 

Hero spins around to face Norman, hands still up. "Tell me what I wanna know, and I'll uh, show up at your next charity event or rally and make you look slightly more appealing." 

“That’s your bargain? With that noted, I’ll at least tell you one thing. For once, I’m not causing some hard to explain incident. An old employee of mine is after one of us…perhaps both. Now get out of here before I call security.”

"Whatever you say, Mister CEO. But I'm not gonna be able to help you if these baddies go after you." 

"I'll be fine, I've always been fine. Now leave." 

With that, Hero swings out of the room and back out into the city. Norman sighs and puts down the gun. He immediately goes over and taps his phone on the desk to page his secretary. 

"Where's Harry? Send him up here, I'm keeping him with me until this whole thing blows over."

"Mister Osborn…your son…he…uhm…" 

"...he left an hour ago, didn't tell anyone where he was going or what he was going to do, he just…left." 

“Send someone to go find him, NOW! If Octavius gets him, I’ll fire you faster than an Olympic sprinter can make it past Main Street!”

Kel didn't make a sound as he listened to Norman's shouts. He had a son? The greedy company boss somehow found love in his life and had family? 

But if the son was gone, maybe he had something to do with all this. He pulled out his phone and quickly sent a message to Hero. 

Kel: He's got a son

Hero: What, where????

Kel: Dunno but I think he was something to do with this

Hero: Maybe. Think I’ve heard about him, someone named Harry Osborn.

Kel: o right. Pretty sure he did some showcase thingy at school a week ago lol

Hero: Gonna go look around, call you if I see anything.

Kel: gotcha. See u at home, pizza night!

"Harry Osborn…where could you be…" Hero swings around the city, keeping an eye out. But he knew it was useless trying to track down one person like this was like trying to find a moving needle with wings in seven bales of haystack, while driving a car. 

Then, he spotted something. Some robotic…thing, crawling along an alleyway wall, poised to drop onto some unsuspecting passersby.

Hero couldn't let that happen. He changed direction and jumped towards the alleyway. 

Grabbing the robot, he tried to toss it into the other wall…but it shook him off, dropping toward the boy in the alley.

Hero hit the ground and groaned. "Superpowered baddies escaped and I'm struggling with a tiny alleyway robot…great." 

After…longer than he’d hoped, Hero finally smashed the robot against a dumpster, obliterating it…and attracting the attention of the guy in the alley.

“Haven’t I seen you on the news?”

"Yeah, it's me, the Spider guy, or as the Daily Bugle likes to put it, Spider menace. Nice guys, couldn't ask for better friends." 

“Ugh, the Bugle. I know a guy who used to work for him, hated his guts. Oh, my dad’s calling, gotta go.”

"Wait!" Hero called out. "What is this thing? How did you get caught in it? More importantly, I don't think a guy in a shirt that nice just wanders into an alleyway." 

“Good question. I was on my way to, uh, visit a friend. If I had to guess about the bot…probably someone after a ransom. Too many people after the Osborns nowadays…”

“Wait…are you Harry Osborn?”

"Oh, guess I am a little recognizable. Uhm, yeah, I am. As you know, the recent breakouts got me a little…worried, so I wanted to go hang out with my friend."

Harry points down the alley and Hero squints. 

"This path is a uh, direct shortcut to FEAST. My friend volunteers there regularly, and the…owner, he and I have history too. I'd figured there's no safer place than a homeless shelter, right? Lots of people, friends close by…"

Hero frowns. Harry was definitely really scared, so much so he'd run from home, but of what? 

"...what can you tell me about Otto?"

“Otto who? Wait…you’re talking about Octavius, aren’t you?”

"Yeah, I think so anyway. Your dad didn't want to tell me anything, so I'm relying on you. Please, anything you know would be great." 

"Doctor Octavius…he uh, worked under my dad for a long time. I don't know how long, but I know they were old friends. Then the two of us met, and…I dunno, I guess his whole 'changing the world' thing inspired me a little, my mom used to live by that too before she died. So I did some work together with him. Of course…if you're asking me this, I'm assuming all the inventing we did together ended up badly. He's…not the one responsible for all this happening, is he? "

“When I talked to Norman, he mentioned someone was out for both him and I. If I had to guess, something happened to Otto for him to go after Norman…but why me?”

"I dunno, maybe the nerve disease finally drove him nuts, but he can barely stand anyways so there's no way he's moving around."

“Nerve disease?”

“From what I remember, Otto had some sorta nerve disease. His whole nervous system was decaying, and the last time I saw him…he was in a wheelchair, and could barely move.”

"...is that it? What else do you know?"

Harry frowns for a moment, racking his brain. "Otto was…he was working on an advanced neural interface at Oscorp, prosthetics. But my dad shut down his research, told him to build something more profitable with his work since he needed to promote cheap and easy prosthetics as part of his mayoral campaign, and Otto's work was making it too expensive." 

“That’s…fucked up. I honestly don’t know what else to say.”

"Yeah well…my dad's a fucked up guy, but I don't think he was a big prosthetics fan in general, poured a lot more funding into the medical department. I'd know…cause most of my mom's work was medical as well, and they're not making too much, but he still keeps them up. "

“I see. Thanks for the intel, mind if I help you get to where you’re going? I don’t even live around here and I can tell these streets aren’t safe.”

"Yeah uh, I'd appreciate that. Thanks." 

Hero gestures for Harry to follow along, and the two of them walk on over to the shelter.

As they reach the entrance, there's already someone waiting for them. 

"Uh, hey Mister Li. Sorry I'm a little…late." 

“No problem. Your friend’s still waiting for you.”

“Parker’s still here? Huh, color me surprised.”

"Well, guess all’s well that ends well!" Hero hits Harry lightly on the back. "Glad you got here safely. Now, if you'll excuse me, I-" 

Before he could finish, a massive yellow beam of lightning hits him in the side. 

“And so we meet again, Spider! While this show’s running, I might as well deal with the young Osborn.”

“Ugh…Electro. Harry, get inside. I’ll have to ground Sparky over here…again.”

With that, the doors to the shelter are quickly shut, and passer-bys run in terror as Hero gets ready to fight. The two of them stare each other down for a few moments. 

Hero makes the first quick draw, pulling out a fire extinguisher, spraying foam all over Electro. 

“Seriously?! THAT’S YOUR STUPID PLAN?!”

“Nope, this is!”

With that, he launches himself towards Electro…and through him. A hologram, of course.

“Hah! Good work, Mysterio.”

“Another illusion. Back to your old tricks, you two? Dumb and dumber, iconic duo. Well, you ain’t fooling me twice.”

Before he could move, his brain started aching out of nowhere. Spider-Sense.

Quickly backstepping, Hero barely dodged a double barrelled attack from two other villains.

“Surprised, Spidey? Tonight’s forecast calls for a Blizzard!”

“Don’t forget about The Vulture, dumbass! Let’s get dis over with.”

“Four against one? I thought you guys had a code or something. Well, let’s just get this over with, I’ve got pizza waiting to get cooked at home.”

“KNOCK KNOCK, SPIDEY!”

Suddenly, a blast of sand hit Hero square in the chest.

“Et tu, Sandman? What is this, a villain reunion party?!”

No way was he beating five baddies at once. Only thing to do was try to get outta there.

"Well, this has been fun, but you all know me, social gatherings aren't my thing, so without further ado-" 

“Going somewhere, Spider?”

Turning around, Hero was met with an eight-tendriled robot. New face to him, that was clear.

“Only way to go is up, bolt-brain!”

Hero quickly shot a web in an attempt to swing away, only for one of the tendrils to grab him by the ankle like a claw. 

“Stick around, I insist. Now then…Mysterio, do the honors.”

Hero felt a sudden pain in his neck, and then everything went black.

Kel woke up around the same time as ever, getting his clothes on and going to wake Hero up. Only…he wasn’t there. Odd.

Well, Hero was usually busy with his superhero stuff, and the crisis was pretty bad out there. Maybe it'd just be a little longer? 

…but he hadn’t even popped back home for pizza. Checking the fridge, the slices he’d saved for him still laid uneaten.

That wasn’t good.

…Kel could either chalk it up to bad time management, or go out to find Hero. 

He chose the second option. But he’d need backup, and he knew only one other guy in town who could help.

“Hero’s missing?” Basil said. Kel sure had brought some sudden news, that much was certain. "A-are you sure he isn't just…you know, Spider-manning?" 

“He hadn’t even gotten home for pizza! I tried texting him, no luck. Something ain’t right, and we ought to go find out what’s going on.”

Basil sighs. "I really think you might be overthinking it. You were with him a few hours ago, weren't you?" 

“Last time I saw him was last night over in Nearby City. Trust me on this, something’s wrong, and I’ll need backup for the search. C'mon pal, let’s do this!”

Basil groans. He really wanted to take it easy today. Holidays didn't last forever and he still had a ton of work left to do. 

…but what choice did he have? Walking up to his room, he grabbed his outfit and threw it on. 

“Overgrowth is on the case!”

“And Tarantula’s coming out of the web!”

The two quickly headed off, ready to find Hero.

If only they knew what kinda trouble he’d gotten into…